At least 160 prisoners freed in the first phase of the Gaza peace plan are “terrorist millionaires” thanks to the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) pay-to-slay program, which funneled a total of nearly $70 million over the years to the 250 prisoners Israel released as part of the deal.
An analysis by the Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) research group showed the PA “paid the terrorists high monthly salaries,” detailing exactly how much money each terrorist received while imprisoned for crimes that include kidnapping, murder, and suicide bombings.
Among those released are several veteran Hamas commanders who established terror cells around Jerusalem and helped orchestrate attacks that killed dozens of Israeli civilians. As these terrorists languished in Israeli prisons, some with multiple life sentences, the PA bankrolled their fortunes with cash often subsidized by the international community.
The list of the 160 new millionaires includes some of the most notorious Palestinian terrorists Israel has imprisoned over the past few decades.
Mohammed Shamasneh
A Hamas commander serving life for murdering four, Shamasneh walked out of prison with nearly 2 million Israeli shekels—or $555,400—to his name. Shamasneh kidnapped and killed two Israeli teens, a taxi driver, and a soldier in 1990. He was one of the longest serving Palestinian prisoners released this week and had been on the PA’s payroll for decades. The PA also paid Shamasneh’s family, meaning the total sum could be much higher than the amount PMW documented.
Iyad Abu al-Rub
Al-Rub served as a senior commander with Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Jenin, where he oversaw the terror group’s military wing during the Second Intifada that began in 2000. Al-Rub is responsible for multiple suicide bombings across Israel that killed seven people between 2003 and 2005, including a deadly attack at a crowded marketplace. Israel also charged him “with planning additional suicide attacks — including one from a school.”
Al-Rub left prison with a minimum of 1,067,600 shekels, or about $323,800, from the PA.
Imad Qawasmeh
Qawasmeh, a Hamas commander, orchestrated a 2004 terror attack that killed 16 and injured more than 100, earning him 16 life terms on charges ranging from murder to weapons trafficking. He earned more than 1,135,000 shekels while in prison, or about $345,241.
Riyad al-Amour
Sentenced to serve life in prison 11 times over “for leading terror cells that carried out shooting and kidnapping attacks between 2000 and 2002,” al-Amour is responsible for the death of nine Israelis, according to Israel’s foreign ministry. He walked from prison with nearly 1,300,000 shekels in the bank, almost $400,000.
He was also found guilty of committing the 2002 “abduction and murder” of 72-year-old Avi Boaz, an Israeli kidnapped in the West Bank and killed soon after.
Ismail Hamdan
Al-Amour’s partner in the Boaz abduction, Hamdan was also released from prison after earning more than 1,200,000 shekels for his crimes, or about $364,000. Hamdan was also involved in a 2002 shooting attack in Jerusalem that killed Deborah Fridman.
Mahmoud Issa
Another veteran Hamas leader, Issa earned nearly 2 million shekels—almost $600,000—while serving more than 30 years for kidnapping and killing a 29-year-old Israeli police officer in 1993. He reportedly joined Hamas in the late 1980s and helped establish “military cells in Jerusalem,” according to the Palestinian Information Center. Issa also stood up the notorious Al-Qassam Brigades, the Hamas outfit that carried out the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.
Nasri Amassi
Amassi was released from a life sentence for a series of “major attacks” in the early 2000s, according to the Israeli foreign ministry, including a bombing that killed nine Israeli soldiers and an attack at a cafe that killed seven civilians. He also played a role in a 2004 bombing in Tel Aviv that killed another Israeli soldier.
Amassi took in nearly 1,200,000 shekels during his time in jail, upwards of $340,000.
Bilal Ajarmeh
Convicted in the early 2000s for carrying out 17 shooting attacks along an Israeli highway, Ajarmeh earned just over a million shekels, or $332,000, while spending 22 years in prison for his terrorist rampage.
The PA typically pays Palestinian prisoners on a sliding scale, with the amount of money it sends per month increasing with time served, according to PMW’s analysis. Those who have spent 25 to 30 years or more in prison earn up to 12,000 shekels a month, equivalent to about $3,187. Prisoners’ immediate family members receive additional payments under the program.
PA president Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly promised to end the pay-to-slay practice under pressure from the U.S. government, but has failed to do so. The policy is a central reason why President Donald Trump barred Abbas’s PA from taking control of the Gaza Strip under his 20-point peace plan, which requires any new government to eradicate extremism from its ranks.
“The Palestinian Authority spends hundreds of millions of dollars each year rewarding terrorists,” PMW director Itamar Marcus said. “Yet, to keep the PA afloat, the EU and several European countries cover the salaries of non‑terrorist PA employees—effectively freeing up PA funds to pay imprisoned terrorists. Its funding policy toward the Palestinians effectively subsidizes and sustains the very system that incentivizes Palestinian terror.”
Many of the nearly 2,000 released prisoners received heroes’ welcomes when they returned to Gaza and the West Bank, with NBC News detailing “Joyous scenes” inside the Palestinian territories. In Khan Yunis, a Hamas stronghold that saw intense fighting during the war, thousands of Palestinians reportedly gathered on the streets as busloads of prisoners were set free. The former detainees were escorted by armed gunmen who celebrated by shooting their weapons into the air, according to ABC News. Some prisoners were exiled to countries like Egypt, as well.
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